Sustainable Intellectual Growth of Elementary School Teachers in Science Content and in Science Pedagogical Content
"The Fulcrum Institute has provided a great boost and has been reinvigorating. I have learned new content and I am more confident in the content I am teaching...Fulcrum really values and respects you as a professional."
"The Institute alters something in you, you become more sensitive or you attempt to do something you may not have done or you look at some things differently. You may take the risk to do some thing you may not have done...you say to yourself, why not?"
"Science is more of a priority in my classroom now. In years past it has been part of what I had to do but this year it's more of a priority...I brought in some of the FI materials and showed them to the kids so they could see their teacher was doing science, was being a student like them."
"Students are learning that there is not always a right answer. The focus is on the process, exploration, taking a risk. Not getting the right answer should be okay and I encourage more risk-takers.".
"I think my students are enjoying class more. They are more confident thinking through the science concepts and applying previous learned concepts and terms."
"This is the best course I have ever taken. It is thought out so massively and is such high quality. Fulcrum addresses everything from science instruction and content, real life connections to science, being a student again and the use of technology."
"The hands-on science activities made me experience science as a learner so you think about what kinds of experiences you want the kids to have."
We are encouraged by such comments from teachers as well as by the data collected in interviews, observations and surveys that the Fulcrum Institute has achieved some success in attaining its goals.
All the MSP projects are doing important things in areas of science and math education and without doubt have much to learn from one another. Our experience suggests that Fulcrum may offer a promising model for fostering intellectual growth and pedagogical skill in science for elementary and middle-school teachers. We believe that its success arises not only from the specific course materials and their organization, but at least as importantly from a model of collaboration among university science faculty, education researchers, cognitive psychologists and course developers, informed by their multiple perspectives and diverse expertise.
We seek to contact other MSP projects that work with elementary teachers in the area of science and that may be interested in augmenting the repertoire of materials and approaches they use by adapting or adopting some of ours. Some possible models of collaboration will be presented for discussion.
